This year the 39th Annual Floatdown fell on a beautiful summer day. The only problem was that the ominous stiff westerly breeze. I don't know if the organizers or participants perceived the possible ramifications of such a wind, but after attending numerous float downs in the past, I was almost certain of what was to come, although not in the magnitude of the scenes that follow.
A small number of Canadians get ready to depart from our shores as well.
Everything started fairly normally as the rafts were carried under the Blue Water Bridge by the strong current. The river was closed to all traffic which this year was a good thing.
As usual on a hot summer day, some local Point Edward boys float by without rafts.Over the years the village has talked about banning the practice but has never done so.
As the current slowed, the wind prevailed and the rafts started to float over to Canada. At the Purdy Fisheries dock the water actually flows backwards as an eddy current holds the rafts stationary. Thousands of rafts were blown off course.
Frustrated officials worked to corral the floaters and drag them back out into the faster current.
Two Canada Customs girls I spoke with said "Nobody is taking us seriously, they don't seem to care". The customs bureaucrats are not at all used to that kind of treatment! Ha ha! What a fiasco. They say it's the biggest US/Canadian cross-border invasion since the War of 1812!
No life jackets in sight but lots of booze.
The Border Patrol stands by helplessly as the floaters float where the wind and currents take them. It was hilariously funny to watch. We need a Trump wall I guess. Lol!
Even the Canada Customs girls finally seemed to lighten up and enjoy the goings on.
The booze was already starting to work and the event was only an hour since starting.
Everybody was having a great time. Tossing liquor to spectators and flaunting the rules.
There were reports of 1500 stray floaters immigrating into Canadian waters. The authorities finally gave up trying to pull them back and set up two emergency "immigration points". One at Ferry Dock Hill on the downtown Sarnia waterfront. Another temporary, federal, landing point was established downriver in Corunna at the ferry dock there.
Above, a US Sheriff police boat drags a flotilla of rafts out of Sarnia Bay towards USA in the background.
Newly arriving U.S. immigrants (wetbacks?) with only their bathing suits were now stranded in Canada. The authorities herded them to the temporary check-points and then city buses shuttled hundreds back across the bridge to Michigan. Most appeared to have no money, no I.D., no phone. Just a raft and what was left of their liquor and beer. I'm sure they'll remember this day the rest of their lives. Ha ha!
Our visit to ARTZscape was curtailed further by a sudden cloudburst and we made our way back to the condo. What an amazing and comical event. We had a great day!
http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/archives/2016/08/23/port-huron-float-down-defies-homeland-security-ends-up-in-canada
Kibitzing with the "floaters" from USA.
US official drags the merrymakers back into the moving current with a SeaDoo.
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